Dead MoD scientist's mother alleges cover up

The mother of a government scientist killed five years ago during a secret explosives experiment has claimed that the authorities want his death covered up.

Terry Jupp, 46, a Ministry of Defence scientist, died of severe burns in August 2002 after a highly explosive mixture apparently ignited spontaneously.

It is thought the married father of two could have been working on classified experiments to find out whether terrorists could use over-the-counter chemical ingredients to create a "dirty bomb" capable of spreading radioactive material.

Mr Jupp was about to prime the volatile mix when it exploded during an open-air trial on Foulness Island, near Shoeburyness in Essex. He suffered 80 per cent burns and died six days later.

No inquest has yet been held into his death and his family have been told nothing about the experiments that led to his death.

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His mother, Anne, said she thought "people high up want it swept under the carpet". She told The Guardian: "The death of one man is nothing to upset them too much, I suppose. But it does upset us."

Two of his colleagues were charged with manslaughter but the charges were later dropped.

A charge against one of his managers at the Forensic Explosive Laboratory, part of the MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, was thrown out by a judge at the Old Bailey in 2005 who ruled there was insufficient evidence against him.

In March last year, the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew the charge against the other manager, with the prosecutor, Gareth Patterson, saying that "the sensitivities of this case are such that I cannot go into too much details about the information in open court."

The inquest into Mr Jupp's death was adjourned by the coroner in Southend, Essex, until the criminal cases had concluded last March.

However, the MoD is said to have taken a year to hand over documentation, delaying the inquest further.

A spokesman for the MoD said that the ministry had provided all the relevant documentation to the coroner's court.

"There's nothing to suggest the MoD wanted to hold back any information," the spokesman said.